Duck Prosciutto, Date and Cheddar Mini Rolls

Holiday season is coming, we’ll soon receive guests at home and/or vice versa. Here is a great idea to make your guests never forget about your dinner party. An hors d’oeuvre plate of duck prosciutto rolled around a date piece and aged cheddar to open up those guests stomach before the main meal. Those little bites will go away in no time, guaranteed, so make sure to prepare enough of those little appetizers.

This recipe is based on an appetizer my mom did last year, which was simply the duck prosciutto and the sharp cheddar with a drizzle of maple syrup. Back then, I really enjoyed it, it was delicious as it was but missing a little “je ne sais quoi“. I also experience the date and bacon mini rolls bites at an English friend place a few year ago. Well… I’ve mix up those 2 appetizers to make the ultimate bites of flavour that goes from salty to sweet, crispy to creamy and sophisticated. This holiday season if you want to make your guests the ultimate gift, make them those little duck, dates and cheddar mini rolls hors d’oeuvres.

Duck Prosciutto

This is the caviar of cured meat, it’s simply a duck’s breast with its fat (magret), cured and dried. They usually sell it, pre sliced, sous-vide at the butcher, delicatessen shops or markets. If you do not know where to buy such a product, they are lots of recipes out there to make your own duck prosciutto. Some with just salt, other like a gravlax, with sugar and salt cured, extra smoky flavors, spiced up, etc. Plus once you’ve cured a whole breast you can easily keep it in the fridge for weeks. It goes in so many dishes, like salads, croutons with figs or marmalade or cook it and turn it into a fancy pancetta. This last one is often mistaken for bacon, when lightly cooked and crispier. But the duck is finer and more delicate than bacon, although both are pretty high in fat so it’s better not to abuse those little appetizers.

The type of cheddar

The cheese used in those rolls needs to be an aged one, a sharp and strong cheese. You can substitute the aged cheddar for any other type of aged cheese, I’m thinking; artisanal cheese, as long as it’s aged for a minimum of one year. The older the better the cheese will hold in the rolls, aged cheeses contains less moisture, they will take longer to melt in the heat and hold up better in the rolls. If you use a young cheese, it will melt right out. An other nice fact about older cheese is… they are stronger so you can use a way smaller piece and still get a clear presence of it in the appetizers. We’ll cook just a tad the rolls, up until the duck get’s slightly crispier and the cheese on the verge to melt, so keep an eye on them when they get in the oven.

Let’s roll those little appetizers!

Duck Prosciutto, Date and Aged Cheddar Mini Rolls

Makes 30 mini rolls | Preparation: 15 minutes | Difficulty: easy

Ingredients

100g of duck prosciutto slices

tiny cubes of old cheddar

6dates, cut into 1/4 on the length

Directions

Add a piece of old cheddar and date to the end of the prosciutto and roll

Secure with a toothpick

Cook in the oven just 4 minutes at 180°C (350F) until the cheese start melting

Wow, what a wonderful recipe! I’ve never tried duck prosciutto but now I’m on a mission to find it! I love duck so I’m absolutely sure that I’d love the prosciutto too. Salty and sweet is such a perfect combination! What do you think of adding a sprinkle of fresh thyme to these bites? I think it would pair well with the flavour combo